


The Wild Ones

by oxiosa



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers, Latin Hetalia - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-30
Updated: 2016-11-30
Packaged: 2018-09-01 06:18:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8612542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oxiosa/pseuds/oxiosa
Summary: He looked around and saw nothing but plants and trees, until a little ruffle of leaves over his head caught his attention. He only got a glimpse of two round green eyes sparkling in the darkness, before a pale face emerged from the shadows.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [~brarg day~](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/244489) by Zulenha. 



> Disclamer; the characters used in this work belong to the community Latin Hetalia and their respective creators. More info about them in the following link > www.latin-hetalia.livejournal.com
> 
> Argentina: Martín.  
> Brazil: Luciano.

He had thought of it as an adventure, in the beginning. It had seemed like a fun idea; pushing into the unknown had sounded exhilarating, so daring and dauntless.

Now Luciano wasn’t so sure anymore.

Luciano was a centaur, and as any other centaur, he had spent his whole life in the open fields. He knew of open blue skies, hard burning sun, endless broad pasture. The jungle, a solid isolated mass of trees and vegetation, had always been something foreign and so very distant to his kind.

Luciano was a child; he had thought he couldn’t be blamed for feeling curious about it, and that sneaking into it had been a matter of time.

It had been nice, the first couple of hours. The exuberance of green and noise of the jungle had been so alien and so very alluring to him. Luciano had marvelled at the novelty of everything; had gazed at the rich lush vegetation, had gaped at the biggest brightest flowers he had ever seen, had laughed at the colourful birds and frisky monkeys squawking and screaming over his head, had lifted his face to the sky and looked at the soft rays of sun coming through the dense foliage above his head like thin strips of warm golden light streaming to the ground around him.

He had been careless, and had walked deeper and deeper into the jungle’s heart, lured and distracted with its wonders. He only had realized he had no idea where he was once it had been too late. As the sun slowly withdrew from the sky, what once had been bright and lively now was macabre and sinister. Nighttime loomed over him, almost a palpable presence clawing at Luciano’s nape and casting gloomy grim shadows creeping and twisting through the jungle.

Luciano had spent hours trying to find his way back home in vain, and while the last rays of sunlight slipped away in the horizon, he remained stuck in the once alluring unknown.

Tears pooled in Luciano’s eyes as he looked around desperately, trying to find something - _anything_ \- to lead him back home. Everything looked the same to him; green, green, green, a _nd more green_. He panted, his heart and lungs racing with despair, and let out a quiet choked sob.

_He wanted to go home, now._

"You already took that path," a voice said over his head.

Luciano rose on his hind legs with a cry, jumping in fright. He turned around, and rushed to wipe the tears from his face with his forearm. He searched around with startled puffy eyes.

"W-Who's there?!" he called with a trembling voice.

He looked around and saw nothing but plants and trees, until a little ruffle of leaves over his head caught his attention. He only got a glimpse of two round green eyes sparkling in the darkness, before a pale face emerged from the shadows.

It was boy, about his age; his dark blond hair barely grazed his narrow shoulders, wild bangs pulled from his face by a reddish cloth tied around his head. He slowly slid out of the foliage, and Luciano let out a high pitched gasp when he saw the green scaled tail that merged with his hips and trailed after him.

He knew little about nagas. He only knew what his family had told him, and his family didn't know much to begin with either. Luciano’s people stayed by the open fields, and the nagas stayed secluded deep in the jungle. Centaurs only knew what they heard of them, and what they heard were mostly rumours.

And rumour had it nagas ate raw warm _meat_.

He backed away, ready to sprint. But the ground was too uneven to run away, roots and undergrowth tangling around his ankles and binding him to his place. Luciano yelped as he tripped and stumbled to keep his balance.

"W-What do you want?!" he demanded, because saying 'Please, don't eat me!' like he wanted was honestly a little pathetic.

The naga blinked at him, and reached for another branch. Luciano watched him curl around it, his long scaled tail following after him in such a slow unnerving motion that it sent a shiver down Luciano's spine.

"You're lost," the naga said.

Luciano was hopelessly lost. But he refused to admit it to this strange kid.

"Am not," he snapped defensively.

"Are too," the naga replied, very matter-of-factly. "You've been wandering in circles like some bawling lost calf.”

"You've been following me?" Luciano asked, eyes wide with disbelief.

The naga gave him a smug smirk, utterly unashamed.

"Just for the last ten minutes,” he said.

Luciano pressed his lips shut, and hoped his blush didn't show on his dark skin. By the way the naga's smile only grew across his face, he could tell he didn’t need to see it to guess his embarrassment.

"Don't you have more interesting things to do?" he shot back hotly.

"No," the naga answered truthfully, and his green eyes sparkled with amusement.

Luciano fought back a pout.

"Then how about you tell me how to get out of here?” he asked, trying to sound certain and commanding.

“But I thought you said you were not lost?” a mocking smile spread across the naga’s face.

Luciano felt his face flame harder, and against every instinct in his body, he turned his back to the naga and marched through the jungle as fast as the vegetation on his way let him. He was lost, tired, scared and hungry; he really didn’t need a creepy, annoying boy messing with him.

He heard more ruffle of leaves over his head, before the naga reappeared on the branches above Luciano, trailing after him, carefree. He made his way effortlessly, away from the crowded ground, finding the branches on his way as instruments instead of obstacles. Luciano almost felt envious.

"You have no idea where you are going, do you?” the naga said and snorted.

“I know I’m getting out of here!” Luciano snapped back.

“Are you? Do you intend to go back home by walking aimlessly, hoping you'll eventually find your way out?" the naga gave him a condescending glance. "'Cause it's a pretty big jungle, you know."

Luciano _did_ , in fact, know the jungle’s extent _._

“If you’re not going to be helpful, leave me alone," Luciano grunted.

The naga ignored him.

"What are you doing here anyways?” he pressed. “You people don't usually get this deep into the jungle..."

They didn't, and Luciano had learnt why firsthand; the jungle was no place for hooves. He could barely move, got stuck in naked roots and sunk in the soft moist land; he could barely move without tripping over something and had almost sprained an ankle more than once. He belonged to the open field where he could run wild and free. Here, he felt trapped, _crippled_.

"That's none of your business," Luciano answered back. "And stop following me!"

He turned around to glare at him, and found the naga was gone. Luciano blinked at the foliage, a little taken back; while glad, he hadn’t expect the naga to listen to him.

He let out a gasp when he suddenly felt a not-so-gentle tug at the feathers braided to his hair.

“I’ve never seen one of your kind this close before,” Luciano shuddered as he felt the naga’s breath against his ear.

Luciano tried to step away, and found much to his horror a green scaled ring slowly curling around across his chest, tightening around him and bringing him closer to the naga hanging behind him for better inspection. Another loop curled around him, this time around one of his hind legs, rings of loose muscles slowly curving around his ankle and knee. He could feel the naga curiously running his fingers through the tangle of thick long hair that was Luciano’s tail.

“Get off me!” Luciano commanded.

He tried to shake the heavy tail off himself, squirming around until he was free of the naga’s grasp. He turned around and backed away, staring at the naga with wide, wild eyes.

“Sorry,” the naga huffed, raising his hands in mock surrender. “Relax, I don’t bite.”

Luciano let out a little gasp and went stiff at that. The naga’s green eyes went round and his pupils turned into two thin dark slits with surprise and understanding.

“ _Oh_ ,” the naga muttered. “I see… That’s what’s being bothering you.”

Luciano would have liked to deny it, but he was having a hard time finding his voice. A wide, wicked smile spread across the naga’s face, and all Luciano could see were two pointy _fangs_. He felt the blood draining from his face.

The naga reached for another branch, and started curling around the high foliage, slowly circling around Luciano. Luciano followed his moves like a mirror image; he would be a fool to turn his back to him now.

“I-I’m not afraid of you!” he stuttered, frowning and balling his hands into fists.

“I’m glad,” the naga smirked, his eyes glowing with mischief. “Tense stressed muscles don’t make a nice tender meal.”

Luciano gasped at that. He stared at the naga with wide eyes, frozen in place for several seconds before his body could react.

And then, he turned around and sprinted away.

"Wait, no - come back!" the naga cried after him. "Don't go that way!"

But Luciano was already on the run. Plants slapped him as he made his way through the foliage, scratching his naked skin and tangling around his limbs, leaves sticking in his hair and tail as he dashed through the jungle. There was no way of telling where he was stepping or where he was going, the vegetation too dense to make a clear path for both his eyes and legs.

“Wait!” the naga’s voice was a distant call Luciano paid no attention to.

He run blindly, pulling and pushing at the foliage as he made his way. He stumbled more than once, and fell once only to hurry back up to his legs, when suddenly the soft ground gave away under his hooves. Luciano fell with a cry, and found himself helplessly rolling down a hill the thick vegetation had hidden from his eyes. Before he could even understand what was going, or he could even try to stop his fall, the hill sent him splashing directly into a stream.

Luciano pushed himself to the surface and took a deep gasp of air. Dripping black curls fell over his eyes as he looked around and fought to keep himself afloat. He still had no idea where he was or where he was heading, and there was only so much he could tell; he had fallen into a river - too deep for him to feel the ground under his hooves and too wide for him to reach the shore - and the current was dragging him deeper and deeper into the jungle at an alarming speed. Luciano kicked helplessly and he tried to swim back to land, but the river was too strong for him, and all he could do was fight the current to keep from sinking him underwater.

"Help!" he cried out, but he knew there was no use.

Luciano was completely alone at an angry river’s mercy and there was no one to help him. He was going to die there, lost in that goddamned jungle.

"Over here!" a familiar voice called.

Luciano’s head snapped up to the sound.

It was the naga. Luciano could see him ahead, tightly curled around a low branch that stuck over the restless waters. He stared at Luciano with wide urgent eyes and reached an arm out in his direction.

"Take my hand!" he ordered.

Luciano reached out, and his hand grasped the naga’s. His soaked fingers slipped out of their grip, but the naga was fast to use his other hand to grip his forearm. Luciano clung to him, fingers curling tightly around his arms.

“Hold on!”

The naga’s face clenched in pain as the current’s force and his grip on the branch put too much stretch on his taut body. Luciano watched with horror how his long tail gave away to their combined weight, rings of greens scales slowly sliding off his branch. The naga grunted and made a knot of himself, tangling tightly around the strong wood, their only anchor.

The naga made most of the effort, at least in the first half of their fight against the current. There was little Luciano could do but cling to him as the naga pulled of him, until at least Luciano's hooves found some ground. Only then, Luciano was able to provide some help; he sunk his legs on the earth and pushed himself to shore.

Once Luciano found himself out of the stream, they collapsed to the ground, both of them soaking wet, trembling, exhausted and gasping for air as they tried to catch their breaths.

"I told you not to go this way," the naga panted at his side, his tails a tangle of green scales and tired muscles sprawled on the dirt.

"You could have warned me," Luciano said.

"I tried," the naga frowned, his eyes lighting up displeased. "But you ran off like some scaredy cat before-"

"Because you said you were gonna eat me!"

"I was joking! " the naga rolled his eyes with an impatient huff. "Did you really think I would?"

Luciano couldn’t help pouting, too upset and tired to engage him.

"You shouldn't joke about that," he murmured.

The naga pursed his lips - a pout, too - and looked away with a frown.

"I wasn’t going to eat you," the naga mumbled quietly, and a light blush coloured his cheeks.

Luciano sighed. He knew that now. And he also recognised the naga’s silent apology; he hadn’t meant to scare him - hadn’t meant to really scare _scare_ him, at least. _And_ he had saved his life. He could had let him drown, and he hadn’t. He had had no obligation or whatsoever to rush after Luciano and rescue him from the river’s claws, and yet he had done exactly that. Even if Luciano had found no fun in being teased, he owed him that; this naga truly meant him no harm.

Luciano looked over the naga, and let out a quiet breath.

"My name is Luciano," he whispered. A peace offer, hopefully.

The naga gave him a sidelong glance, and took a moment to answer. He let a sigh too, and turned to Luciano with clear green eyes.

"I'm Martín," he introduced himself.

“Martín…” Luciano repeated, tasting the name on his lips. “Thanks for helping me back there.”

“You’re welcome,” Martín said, a ghost of a smile curving his lips. Then, he added, almost tentatively. “I’m sorry I scared you.”

“Oh, I wasn’t scared,” Luciano brushed it off jokingly with a snort.

Martín laughed, and gave him a small coy smile that Luciano couldn’t help to return. Then, Luciano frowned, and turned his head to the dense foliage around them.

"What’s that noise...?" he asked.

He hadn’t noticed it before, adrenaline and rushing furious water ringing in his ears, but now he could hear a low constant murmur echoing through the jungle, a light alluring buzz.

"The big waters," was Martín’s only answer.

Luciano rose, and made his way toward the sound. Martín let out a tired sigh; he curled around a lanky tree that bent dangerously as he made his way to the lower branches that spread over Luciano’s head and followed lazily after him. As they walked, the sound got louder and louder, until Luciano could barely hear anything else aside from it. It became crystal clear now that the noise was produced by water, a _huge_ amount of water in the moves.

“Ah,” Martín called after a moment, raising his hand and indicating Luciano to stand still. “Watch your step.”

This time Luciano listened and carefully followed Martín’s instructions; he had learnt his lesson with the river. He walked looking around with cautious eyes, paying attention where he was placing his hooves, until Martín ordered him to stop.

“Well, there they are,” he said.

Luciano rose his gaze from the ground, and his eyes went wide with the sight.

“Waterfalls!” he gasped in awe.

In front of them, right at their feet, there was the most impressive display Luciano had ever seen. The wide river opened up into several impossibly-high falls of water, long curtains of foam streaming down one to the other. Steam rose in the air as the water fell into the void, little drops defying and laughing at gravity. The sun set in the horizon, dyeing the sky orange and yellow, casting hard, dark shadows around them. A wide smile spread across Luciano’s face as he watched the last rays of sunlight dance with the water drops flying around, painting streams of all kinds of colours in thin air.

It was breathtaking, a landscape stolen from a dream.

“They’re beautiful,” Luciano whispered, awestruck.

“They are,” Martín agreed, an easy smile curving his lips. “They look better from the other side of the river, though. I can show you...”

He looked up to the darkening sky, and frowned.

“But not now,” he decided. “It’s getting late, and we should probably get you back home.”

Luciano blinked up to Martín, tearing his eyes away from the waterfalls for the first time since he saw them.

“You know the way then?” he asked.

Martín flashed him a smug smile.

“Of course I do,” he said. “Come on, follow me!”

So Luciano did.

After some minutes solemnly trusting in Martín to lead him home, Luciano started to recognise little things here and there, until he saw home spreading endlessly in front of his very eyes. A wide smile spread across Luciano’s face, and he couldn’t help dashing to the open fields letting out a loud bubbly laugh.

Martín watched him curled around a tree, staying safe secured around the dense foliage, a guarded smirk curving his lips.

“Thanks,” Luciano breathed out as he came back to Martín, having stretched his longing legs.

“You’re welcome,” Martín answered, tilting his chin up smugly. “You’ll be able to find your family now?”

It was dark already, but Luciano was certain he would. The fields were his home, and even without the sun’s guidance, he was sure he would have no problem getting back to his family.

“I can handle it from here,” he promised.

Martín let out a little amused huff.

“You should be heading off then,” he said. “I bet they’re worried about you.”

An earful was waiting for him, Luciano knew.

“I should,” he agreed with a nod. Then, he gave Martín a shy glance through his eyelashes. “... I can be back here tomorrow…?”

Martín’s green eyes went wide.

“You would?” he asked.

“Of course!” Luciano said. Then he added, a little shy; “If you want to.”

A wide bright smile spread across Martín’s face.

“I do want to,” he said.

“We can go back to the waterfalls! Or I could take you to see the fields!” Luciano beamed at him.

Martín blinked with interest.

“I’ve never been out in the open,” he whispered, and rose his eyes to the endless darkness that spread behind Luciano’s back. “Is it safe?”

He blushed then, his whole face going red, as he realized how silly and childish his question had been.

“It is,” Luciano promised.

As safe as the wilderness was. There were dangers out there, yes, the same way Martín’s home had held its own dangers. Staying safe was all about keeping your eyes open and your ears attentive and sticking together, Luciano’s kind knew.

“I’d like that,” Martín decided.

“Then I’ll be back tomorrow morning,” Luciano said. “I promise.”

Martín smiled at him, and Luciano blushed, something warm fluttering inside his chest with the way Martín’s green eyes lightened up with his words.

As he headed away from the jungle, he waved Martín goodbye before he watched him disappear in the foliage. Luciano smiled to himself as he run free in what seemed forever.

He was definitely coming back to the jungle; it wasn’t that bad after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Argentine-Brazilian collab with lovely Zulenha for Argentina and Brazil's Friendship Day based on her centaur!Luciano AU 8D Happy friendship day to all our Brazilian neighbours out there!


End file.
